The Weight of the World
by applemysteries
Summary: When Abby gets kidnapped, how far will the team go to save her, and what will be the cost?   Should be mostly T, might switch over to M for some parts. Please note that Ziva and Abby are NOT a couple. :
1. Chapter 1

Summary: When Abby gets kidnapped, how far will the team go to save her, and what will be the cost?

Disclaimer: NCIS, sadly, does not belong to me, I am merely "borrowing" the characters/stuff for this story. :)

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They were wrong to mess with her. The baby of NCIS, the supposed weak link - as she had heard Tony call it - you did not mess with everyone's favorite. You didn't mess with someone who reminded her just the tiniest bit of Tali, you just didn't. Not if you wanted to live.

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Chapter 1 (Palmers POV):

When Palmer had gotten into the elevator he had a feeling that something bad was going on, it was a feeling in his gut, and since it was a gut feeling he should have listened to it, but instead, he clutched the evidence jar in his hands, and wondered what music Abby would be playing in her lab.

And as the elevator descended, that's what it sounded like, very loud obnoxious music; death metal he figured. As the elevator stopped and he waited for the doors to slide open, he wondered if Abby even _listened _to death music, and then when the doors finally did slide open, he had already ignored his gut feeling that she did _not_ listen to death metal and convinced himself that she was just experimenting.

By the time Palmer had taken three steps down the short 17 step hall, he had already noticed that it sounded less like music and more like screams of terror. And as he took his fourth step he was ignoring the growing feeling of something being terribly wrong and planning ways to politely ask Abby to turn her music off, or at the very least, down.

It wasn't until the sixth step that Palmer faltered, and listened to what appeared to be the sound of rapid gun fire. But it wasn't until the seventh step when Palmer actually put two and two together. And then, just when he had there was another, single gun shot and the sound of sharp static and an even higher pitched audible scream of,

"Gibbs!"

and, by then, the evidence jar was forgotten, smashed on the ground and Palmer was running.

When Palmer finally crashed into the lab threshold, half of Abby's "babies" were riddled with bullet holes, and Abby was corned. When the bad guys turned to notice Palmer, he had already struck one over the head and ducked.

He kept his eyes open enough to see black combat boots- Abby's black combat boots- run towards a cabinet which contained acid, and he didn't need to see to know what the screams of anger entailed, and he also didn't need to know that his gut was telling him to grab Abby and run, and that right now, running seemed like a great idea.

So as he ran towards Abby, attempting to dodge as many bullets as humanly possible (which, he decided, was a very low number since the fifth one had just grazed him) he already had a game plan, grab Abby, dodge bullets, and then run like hell, and he also knew that as a scientist the odds were not in his favor, especially as more ski- mask people leapt through the shattered window, into the pile of shattered glass and starting firing bullets.

He owed Abby his life, while he'd been calculating she'd been acting, yanking him behind the acid cabinet with her and then proceeding to scream,

"What the hell is going on?"

then, deciding not to wait for an answer, and instead running hand in hand with Palmer behind the cabinets.

While she ran, or more accurately they both stumbled, he knew in his gut that he couldn't get them both out of here, and then, when the ski-mask people shot repeatedly into the cabinet where Abby had paused to breathe he had an enormous feeling of dread, a feeling that he wasn't going to be able to save Abby. And as he thought that, Abby was already screaming in pain, sliding to the floor, bleeding out of at least three full on bullet wounds, and he was already being hit with a heavy object. Blunt force trauma.

And when everything was becoming increasingly fuzzy, and his gut feeling was so damn overwhelming and sickening that he had no choice but to wonder how the hell Gibbs didn't vomit each time he had one, he heard Abby burst into tears, and continuing screaming and he could only imagine her writhing in pain. And, then when Palmer was fairly certain that he _was_ vomiting from his feeling of panic and dread he heard Abby scream again and more glass breaking, and heavy footsteps, sounds that he could only place with fleeing the scene, but not fleeing, because they had Abby. And suddenly it no longer mattered that he wanted to just lay there and die, he was moving screaming things that he couldn't even understand, grasping around for an object, because he just couldn't lie there and let something happen to Abby.

And just when Palmer's hand had connected with something that felt mildly heavy, he heard car doors slamming, and he heard the whoosing of air as the object he'd previously been struck with struck him again, and as Palmer fell back down to the floor, blinking his eyes so that he could at least get a vague idea of what this guy looked like, his hands slipping the object falling out of his hands, he could barely make out a black shoe, size either nine or ten, mens. And then when the shoe smashed into his nose, breaking it, and ensuring that he would not be moving anytime soon, Palmer heard three things, the sound of retreating footsteps, a faint torturous scream and music.

And as Palmer faded into the inviting darkness, he knew only a few things.

1. Bad people had Abby.

and

2. It was definitely _not _death metal.

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Authors Note: Okay, so, I honestly don't recall if Abby listens to death metal or not, but for the purpose of this story, and what I just said in this chapter, lets assume not. Also, I know that I used lots of "when" and "then" and "already" but I'm trying my spin on Palmer, a character I've never written before, I'm usually writing in the eyes of Gibbs and Ziva, so this fic is somewhat new for me. I really hope you enjoy it, and remember reviews are always welcome, and greatly appreciated. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, wish I did. :)

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Chapter 2 Part 1 (Gibb's POV):

Gibbs swore angrily, slamming the phone down on the receiver. The last thing he had heard before the line went dead was Abby screaming. He had to get down to that lab. He turned and began to run towards the back exit of the bullpen, not wanting to waste time by going past Dinozzo who he could sense was creeping up behind him.

Gibbs faltered when he saw her running towards him, it was Ziva and her face was showing what she usually tried to hide, fear and panic. She was running fast, and then before he even had time to blink she was practically in front of him, doing a swan dive, her elbow connecting hard with his shoulder, and suddenly Gibbs knew in his gut that whatever was going on was a little bigger than whatever had gone down in Abby's lab. But he still had to get down there, everyone up here could handle themselves. And that's when bullets crashed through the window, sailing over him, Dinozzo, and Ziva. If Ziva hadn't tackled him, they would have both been dead.

They smacked into the floor, Ziva rolling off him, and talking fast.

"We got a security breach in sec-nav something to do with-" She faltered suddenly, before breathing and beginning new, her eyes wide with urgency. "We lost connection down in Abby's lab. Her alarms are going off and the elevator won't go down to her floor. Ducky was evacuated, but Abby and Palmer are missing. No ones aloud down there, I tried to go but Vance stopped me," She paused again, anger showing on her face. Gibbs started at her intently.

"Go on, Ziva!" He glanced at Dinozzo and McGee, at least he wasn't the only one hanging on to every word. Ziva breathed deeply.

"Vance is calling SWAT. I just thought I would tell you."

More bullets crashed through the room, screams sounding as people tried to find things to hide behind, there was no way to shoot back. But his gut was telling him that all of this was just an act, that the real trouble was down in Abby's lab. His decision made, Gibbs got into a crouching position, drawing his weapon. His team was smart, they figured out his intentions quickly.

"Boss, you can't, it's suicide!" McGee cried panicked from behind his desk. He spun around to face him.

"Use my computer, try to get connection to Abby's lab. Ziva, Tony, try to find out whats going on outside. I'm going down to Abby's." All three of them looked ready to retort and before he could interject Ziva spoke fiercely.

"I am going with you."

"No," he said, letting all of them know that it was not a group decision. "I'm going down to Abby's. _Alone._"

This time, he didn't wait for feedback, he got up and ran towards the stairs, disappearing into the mass crowds of panic.

Part Two (Zivas POV):

She barely had time to think before McGee was running across the bullpen to Gibbs's desk, clicking away madly trying to get a signal into Abby's lab. Tony starting blankly at where Gibbs had disappeared. Ziva knew there was a chance that he might not come back. He didn't understand just how big all of this was. Neither did she, not fully at least, and she didn't want to find out.

She glanced over by the windows, they were know on a full blown lockdown, three inches of hard steel covering the windows, making sure that no one got in, and also making sure that no one got out. The alarms signals were going off everywhere, telling people what they already knew.

Ziva rose up from the ground and looked around, Tone rising shortly after her. They were quiet until McGee got up and turned on the plasma.

"This is what was going on in Abby's lab, roughly two minutes before the signal was lost."

He hit play, and Ziva watched what she had already seen. Abby, clicking away on her computer, starting at samples of DNA from a cold case that had been re-opened. Abby walking over to her stereo and turning the volume up, and then walking to her table of evidence, and looking it over, right when she turned back to her computer again the signal was lost, nothing suspicious about it. Ziva and everyone had already analyzed this up in sec-nav, nothing had changed.

Tony and McGee were staring at the video, struggling to come up with things that simply didn't exist, because what ever had happened down in Abby's lab had happened after the signal was lost. And whoever had planned this was smart. It wouldn't have happened right after, they would have waited a bit, waited so that when NCIS went back and looked at all the evidence, there was nothing to find, nothing that would help them.

Ziva's suspicions where becoming more and more likely. Rule number…. rule number something, theres no such thing as coincidences. But Ziva would rather break that rule then believe that _they _were behind it.

"Ziva! Ziva, are you listening?" Tony yelled at her impatiently, and she spun around, McGee was standing closer to her than Tony was, about 4 feet away. And then suddenly a small square package dropped from the ceiling and landed right in front of her.

She'd never moved faster in her life, she gave a sharp to of her way shove to Tony, crashing him into- and through- the small bullpen walls. Then she was doing her second swan dive of the day, crashing into McGee sliding both of them a little way across the floor, future from the bomb that she could barely here over her punding heart. But then she heard it, the ear shattering explosion, and as she hit the floor she could swear she heard the softest faintest laughter, telling her that again others were going to die, and again, there would be nothing she could do.

These were indeed the same people who killed Tali.

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Authors Note: The story will mainly be told in Ziva's POV, or Gibbs, with occasional POV's from other characters. And, just in case not everyone remembers Tali was killed by Hamas sucide bombers when she was 16. Ziva claims that she joined Mossad as a volunteer, not in response to her sisters death, but for the purpose of the story, Ziva joined mossad to please her Father, after Tali's death. Therefore making it part retaliation.

Reviews are lovely.


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